iPhone and Mobile Telecom in the Pacific Rim

iPhone Around the World

The suspense over which nations and carriers will launch the iPhone next ended dramatically over the past week with a flurry of announcements.

For now we know that an offical iPhone will be on sale in 35 (and counting) nations by year’s end. Asia is notably missing from the list of announced deals. That should end soon. (Update: SingTel deal now confirmed) The SingTel consortium iPhone deal may be announced at WWDC in early June. SingTel’s website reports the group’s major telecom investments include:

iPhonAsia expects to hear about other Asian carrier deals in Japan, Korea, Taiwan and China later this year. The China carriers are not under the same “PR” pressure to pre-announce anything. And Apple clearly prefers to reserve surprises for the right venue/moment. WWDC looks very probable for a few special announcements; however, there is no assurance that we will hear about a formal China deal(s) at WWDC.